SOUTH AFRICA
The New Age
Itumeleng Mafisa
In the wake of the outrage sparked by a BBC interview in which Cardinal Wilfrid Napier reportedly said “paedophilia is an illness and not a criminal condition”, the Catholic Church in South Africa has condemned sexual and all other forms of abuse of children.
And on the day that newly appointed Pope Francis held his first public mass in Rome, the SA Catholic Bishops Conference’s (SACBC) President Stephen Brislin, admitted there were “failures on the part of the Church” in dealing with sexual abuse cases.
Napier who could not be reached for comment yesterday said on his Twitter account that he was quoted out of context.
“Clearly Stephen Nolan had another agenda when asking to talk about papal election,” the South African cardinal who was part of the conclave that elected the new pope, said.
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